It's not the twists that keep me going. I find twists gimmicky and pointless most of the time. Really what I find great about the show is all the literary and philisophical references and themes. The "twists" (like the hatch thing) more than being merely a change of idea, really reflects something deeper. We have Jack who doesn't believe in miracles, and suddenly witnesses one through the experience with his wife, whom he decides must have been brought to him through fate, then she leaves him and he realizes once and for all that every thing in life is all chance. On the other hand we have Locke who recovers his ability to walk once crashing on the island and realizes beyond a shadow of doubt that there is some sort of higher power. Once they discover the crazy Scottish guy living in an underground hatch with a computer that saves the world, Jack decides the whole idea of the buttom is rediculous, while Locke whole heartedly believes in the button. Finally Locke sees something that convinces him his faith was misplaced and he decides that he has been wrong all along, but at the very last instant, he discovers that the button is real, and also the cause for the plane crashing, which effectively confirms to him that he was wrong to give up on his faith and that the plane really did crash for a purpose. The twists (i.e. the Pearl proving that the Swam was merely a psychology experiment then the twist of the Pearl actually being the real experiment) that took place were not just for the sake of twisting in a gimmicky way. You can find all sorts of religious and philisophical ideas just within the hatch plotline.

"It's fun being fooled, but if there's nothing substantial when all is said and done, the twist is merely a superficial gimmick and I generally have no reason to ever enjoy that story again. Using twists alone is pure sensationalism as far as I'm concerned."

I couldn't agree with you more on that. My argument is that substantial things are being said in the show all along, even within the twists. Also I have always thought that Lost is a show that could easily be ruined by little more than a few minor wrong turns. I really want it to be one of those few shows that I can watch straight through from beginning to end several years down the road, or to be a show that once it is completely finished I can whole heartedly recommend to a friend who has never seen it before.